Of Fireflies and Stars
by DeZia of Abiquiu
Summary: The crew comes upon a peaceful island, and Luffy declares it an official vacation. Zoro thinks that a vacation is indeed in order, as well as a good prank. Mild yaoi. LxZ, one-shot.


Alright. Here it is, my first yaoi fic. I hope you like it! It was inspired by something both my mother anf father did when they were kids. No fireflies were actually harmed in the writing if this fic.  
  
Of Fireflies and Stars  
  
Sunset. An island. A forested, lush island.  
  
"Nice." Nami said, looking at the little island. It looked to be an old, extinct volcano, with beaches of blackish-red sand and a small, raised lake in the collapsed caldera."We can take a rest here, looks like there will be plenty of fruit-trees for foraging, a few animals to hunt for--"  
  
"MEAT!" Luffy interjected.  
  
Nami sighed with only slight exasperation. "Yes, Luffy, for meat. And, there is plenty of lumber for repairs."  
  
"I know," Luffy grinned. "As Captain, I declare a vacation!" he was rewarded with various hoots and sounds of approval.  
  
Sanji smiled and pulled out a small, white slip of paper, and a little draw- string bag of tobacco. He rolled himself a new cigarette, discarding his old, burnt-down butt. "Nice job on finding this, Nami-san. It's almost as beautiful as you!"  
  
"Yeah, but there are probably Volcano Monsters up there, like the ones I fought a long time ago." Usopp chuckled.  
  
Line casted...  
  
"Really?" Luffy and Chopper ran over to him in a flash.  
  
...Bait taken. He began his story. "They were big, flaming, ugly brutes..." and so on.  
  
Zoro, however, was admiring the island from the background, silently appreciating it's beauty. And quiet. Perfect napping qualities. He was the loudest when agreeing with Luffy, being a pirate is harder work than one would imagine. A vacation was deffinately in order.  
  
They moored the ship and everybody headed off to areas of interest. The sun was slowly sinking beyond the horizon, seemingly into the sea (which was inspiration for Usopp's new story for Chopper).  
  
And with the falling orb came firey light. And a campfire. And fireflies.  
  
Luffy chased after them, running until their light blinked off and then running after another one.  
  
"Are they teleporting, or something?" Luffy groaned, having been unable to catch a single one.  
  
Zoro had wandered into the forest, to find a nice place to sleep. After trekking through the trees and varitable local vegetation, he arrived at a nice clearing where a spring tumbled down from the caldera-lake. There was a large cork-tree with soft bark, its green leaves blowing in the gentle trade-winds.  
  
It was perfect.  
  
The swordsman laid against the tree and reverently hung his swords on a low- hanging branch. He had just about dozed off, when there was a slight disturbance in the bushes. He tensed a little and his hand strayed to his swords.  
  
Said disturbance was only Luffy, chasing after a firefly the size of a pidgeon.  
  
It was rather comical. No matter how fast the rubber-man was, the giant bug was always just a little bit faster, staying just out of the reach of the captain's stretching arms. Luffy finally lost intrest in the firefly, mock- saluted it and flicked out a hand in the opposite direction.  
  
"Alright, I caught one!" he cried proudly. But, alas, as he opened his hand, there was only a glowing mess. "Aaw, bummer..."  
  
Looking at the glowing puddle, he got an idea. He dipped a finger into it and smeared it on his face as if it were war paint. Zoro, too got an idea.  
  
"Hey, Luffy, can I have some of that?" he asked, getting up. Sleeping could wait.  
  
------------  
  
"...and then, I pulled the sun back up with my fishing-rod!" Usopp finished his tale, and Chopper clicked hid hooves together, attempting to applaude for the story.  
  
"How lovely! That must have been a challenge, fighting the sea-serpent. How would the sun possibly taste good?"  
  
"It tastes like chili, very hot." the Sniper stated in a matter-of-factly tone.  
  
Sanji busied himself with dinner, barbequed island ostrich with fruit salad and some of his cheese that had finally aged properly to taste good. He listened to Usopp's tale of the Sun-Eating Serpent, however untrue it was still somewhat entertaining. He watched Nami, too, who was enjoying the story as she worked on a little sketch of the island, a map no doubt. A vacation, on a tropical island, with Nami. How nice...  
  
He was snapped out of his reverie by roaring shouts coming from the forest. Angry, ravenous growls. Everybody jumped up, not knowing what to expect. Nami cursed under her breath. She should've checked some of her records to see if there were monsters on the island!  
  
Then, the eyes came through the trees. Two huge, yellow, glowing eyes filled with malice. It roared as if with two voices. Usopp and Chopped fought to hide behind eachother. Sanji ran to Nami and stood in front of her to protect her.  
  
The monster's roaring quieted to stiffled laughter, then snickering, and finally the eyes toppled with fitful bouts of uncontrollable laughter.  
  
"The looks on your faces!" one eye guffawed. "Priceless!"  
  
"That was so cool! We tricked you so good!" the other one laughed, getting up.  
  
The voices were unmistakable as Zoro's and Luffy's. They got up, their 'Monster Eyes' smeared from falling on the ground. They stepped into the firelight, tears streaming down their faces from laughing so hard.  
  
"It's only Luffy and Zoro, Usopp!" Chopper said happily.  
  
"Uh, I knew that..." he mumbled in reply.  
  
"You are smart! They sure had Sanji, Nami and I fooled!"  
  
"You shithead! You almost gave me a heart attack. And you scared Nami-san!" Sanji yelled, trying to regain himself.  
  
Nami's reaction, was not so peaceful. At least, not after the prelude. "Luffy, Zoro, come here..." she smiled sweetly.  
  
Both of them immediately recognized that tone and bolted for the forest with the angry Navigator chasing after them.  
  
It was hard to hide, even in the forest, with those big, glowing eyes painted on their bare chests, so Zoro had to think quick. Goodness knows that Luffy was incapable of that.  
  
Zoro couldn't have been more wrong. The rubber-man put a hand around Zoro's waist and grabbed onto a high branch with the other, carrying them up, up through the branches of the tree. They scrambled up on the branch and waited as they heard Nami pass under them.  
  
"That was close..." Luffy whispered. Zoro couldn't help but notice that Luffy's arm was still around his waist. Honestly, he didn't really care.  
  
They again heard Nami pass under them, going in the opposite direction. "You know, she'll probably be mad until tomorrow." Zoro said.  
  
Luffy nodded in agreement. "We should stay here, but I'm hungry..." Zoro reached out and plucked a large, purple fruit off the branch just above him.  
  
"How's this?"  
  
Luffy grinned. The only reason they could see eachother were the Eyes, smeared beyond recognition. "Alright. Dinner!" he set about picking a couple for himself.  
  
They talked for a while about their trick, it had been well planned and well executed. It was simple, yet elegant. Best of all, Zoro thought, was it scared the pants off Sanji, even though the cook would never admit it.  
  
Luffy belched. "Those were good. I picked the right tree to hide in, didn't I?"  
  
Zoro nodded in agreement. He was about to say something, but Luffy slumped against his chest, not caring about the glowing goo on his face. Luffy was warm, and his very presence was somehow calming to the green-haired swordsman. "I'm tired Zoro..."  
  
"Me too." Zoro whispered. He put his arms around his captain, listening to his breathing as it eased into the long, measured breaths of sleeping. He looked at the stars, and slowly dozed off himself.  
  
A vacation was the perfect idea... 


End file.
